Baseball fan looks to past for new team

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, March 23, 2005

"I'm not terribly interested in today's game because it's consistently the same," said the 59-year-old Newtown man. "Everybody is trying to slug the ball out of the ballpark."

When Shaw talks about the old days, though, he's not talking about Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Not even the days when Babe Ruth hurled fastballs for the Boston Red Sox.

He really means the old days.

Shaw is starting a vintage baseball club in Newtown, where players will dress and play like it's the 1880s. He is trying to recruit players and hopes to field more than one team.

With Newtown celebrating its 300th anniversary this year, Shaw expects the still-developing team to play a vintage club from Hartford in August at Fairfield Hills.

"It's simple and it was played the way it was intended to be played by people who loved the game and don't want to take advantage of it or make a lot of money or be famous," he said.

Shaw has always been a fan of baseball. Growing up in Massachusetts, he could often be found on the fields. While his lack of hitting prowess ended his playing days in his teens, he spent his adult years watching the Red Sox.

Despite his respect for the game, he found a greater love years ago when he opened up his Smithsonian magazine and read about vintage baseball teams, which usually play using rules from the second half of the 19th century.

"I knew they played back then, but I didn't know it was that different from today's game," Shaw said.

Attending vintage games throughout New England, Shaw saw those differences up close.

It takes seven balls to get a walk and foul balls are not counted as strikes, according to 1880s rules. In vintage games, catchers honor the past by using smaller padded gloves and outfielders often play without any mitts.

"I'd tell them (players today) 'You have to get rid of half that cow on your hand. There is no reason for that,'�" Shaw said.

He took pictures of the teams, and next month he expects to display his photographs at the Millyard South Studios in Manchester, N.H.

While Shaw, a product development consultant, doesn't expect to play much with the new team, he said he's confident players will fall in love with the sport once they try it.

"It's almost embarrassing to play softball after seeing vintage ball," he said.

In preparation for the new team, players will make much of the equipment including canvas bag bases stuffed with straw and even the stands and scoreboard.

Mike Paes, a 39-year-old Newtown resident, talked to Shaw in January about joining the team and was hooked.

"From my understanding, he's a real scholar of the game," Paes said. "He's gotten me very interested and very involved."

Paes, a long-time amateur player, agreed to make the baseball bats for the team.

"I think it's going to be great. In between the sporting aspect and the opportunity for people to see something from another time was going to be interesting."